Colchester United season-ticket holder Si Collinson's views on the U's

WE were back on the road again last weekend, with Oldham Athletic the destination.

After a slight satnav/postcode input error that took us via Preston, we arrived at Boundary Park.

After the midweek win on penalties at Crystal Palace in what was one of, if not my greatest night at a football ground, there was a slight air of worry among the 144 - although it felt less - travelling U's fans that there may well be a hangover effect and a return to earth with a bump.

Luckily for us that was not the case, as the U's produced a solid performance to get the three points.

I swear I age at least six months in the last ten minutes of every game we defend a 1-0 lead.

Palace away - wow, what a game.

We set out as a team to actually take the game to the Premier League side, who clearly wanted to win with the strength of their line-up.

But truth be told, Colchester were equal to the task and matched them blow for blow.

All round the team pulled out one of the best performances I have seen from a Colchester side and they should be flattered that Zaha was brought on early in the second half, bearing in mind that this is the player hyped up to be someone who single handily will keep them in the top flight and is worth in the region of £70 million plus.

If there could be one fault to find, it's that we didn't manage to win it in the 90 minutes.

A certain Noah Chilvers secured his place in Col U folklore, not only scoring the winning penalty but having the confidence to stand up and volunteer to take it in the first place.

The hopes and dreams of the supporters on his shoulders but also his career.

Many a player has missed and suffered for it but not this young lad.

A cup run is nice and Tottenham coming to town will be a welcome change to the same old League Two sides.

Without a doubt, it will sell out the ground with a nice little earner for the club but when all is said and done, I hope it does not become a distraction from the main effort this season which is of course the league and promotion.

We've now won two in a row in the league, twice seeing out a single-goal lead.

Three clean sheets in the last three in all competitions prior to the Gillingham game last night shows that hopefully the defensive wobbles from the start of the season have been addressed and the goalscoring is being shared around up top, with Frank Nouble getting on the scoresheet.

Early days but fingers crossed a corner has been turned.

Bring on Saturday and the next league test, with Walsall to overcome at home.